Rich man, poor man: Developmental differences in attributions and perceptions Carol K. Sigelman ⇑ Department of Psychology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA article info Article history: Received 2 February 2012 Revised 8 June 2012 Available online 31 July 2012 Keywords: Poverty Wealth Income inequality Attributions Development Stigma abstract In an examination guided by cognitive developmental and attribu- tion theory of how explanations of wealth and poverty and percep- tions of rich and poor people change with age and are interrelated, 6-, 10-, and 14-year-olds (N = 88) were asked for their causal attri- butions and trait judgments concerning a rich man and a poor man. First graders, like older children, perceived the rich man as more competent than the poor man. However, they had difficulty in explaining wealth and poverty, especially poverty, and their trait perceptions were associated primarily with their attributions of wealth to job status, education, and luck. Fifth and ninth graders more clearly attributed wealth and poverty to the equity factors of ability and effort and based their trait perceptions on these attri- butions. Although the use of structured attribution questions revealed more understanding among young children than previous studies have suggested, the findings suggest a shift with age in the underlying bases for differential evaluation of rich and poor people from a focus on good outcomes associated with wealth (a good education and job) to a focus on personal qualities responsible for wealth (ability and effort). Ó 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Introduction To understand and function within their society, children must come to understand the origins, nature, and implications of a variety of human differences, including differences in socioeconomic status (SES). Their emerging understandings and perceptions of wealth and poverty are likely to have important implications for their views of individuals they encounter as well as their opinions on policy 0022-0965/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2012.06.011 ⇑ Fax: +1 202 994 1602. E-mail address: carol@email.gwu.edu Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 113 (2012) 415–429 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Experimental Child Psychology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jecp